COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — An unruly man outside a Morgan Park pizza place got a running start and head-butted an off-duty Chicago cop working security, leaving the officer with a blood clot in his sinus cavity, a broken bone in his face and a concussion, prosecutors said.
Benjamin Salabura, 23, and his friends were outside Home Run Inn Pizza at 10900 S. Western Avenue Saturday night when they got unruly and started yelling, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti said.
The police officer, who moonlights as a security guard at the restaurant, asked them to leave, Antonietti said. He identified himself as a cop and took out his Chicago Police star.
That's when Salabura allegedly got a running start and smashed the officer in the right side of the face with his head, Antonietti said.
The officer, whose name was not released, suffered a blood clot in his sinus cavity, a broken occipital bone and a concussion, Antonietti said.
Salabura, who appeared in court Monday, was not bruised or bandaged. He said little, and glanced at his parents briefly.
"He's out of control," Cook County Judge James Brown said, insisting that Salabura adhere to a court-ordered curfew if he bonds out of jail. "It's a very serious injury to the officer."
Salabura, whose criminal record consists of a reckless conduct charge from 2010, is a graduate of Elmhurst University and has a job, according to his attorney. His mother and father declined to comment about his arrest.
Brown ordered Salabura held on $75,000 bond.
